Mater Saves the Christmas Parade
by Cartoonatic55
Summary: Just a cute little oneshot I made where Mater saves the Radiator Springs Christmas parade. Happy Holidays everyone!


**_Hi there, fellow Cars fans. I just thought it'd be fun to write a cute, short little oneshot Christmas story for my favorite Cars character: Mater. (And no, I don't own any of the characters, you smarty-pants, you.) Hope you all enjoy it. Happy Holidays!_**

It was a cold night in Radiator Springs, and everyone was moving about, for this was no ordinary night. This was the night of the annual Radiator Springs Christmas Parade. Everything had to be perfect, for tonight they had one of their biggest audiences ever after Lightning decided to move into town. Everyone was busy preparing a special float for their cruise down Main Street. Ramone was busy painting the sides of one of the floats, Guido and Luigi were fixing the tires on them, and Sally was overseeing the whole thing, making sure everyone was doing their job. Lighting looked at all the floats that everyone was working on in awe.

"Wow," he gasped. "These are great." Yes, he noticed that everyone was working hard on a float. Well, everyone except one. His eye caught something in the corner of all the preperations. Or rather, someone. It was Mater. He had his usual semi-goofy smile as he admired the floats from a distance. Then he looked away and sighed. Puzzled, Lightning drove over to see what was bothering him. "Hey Mater, how's it going? Are you excited about the parade?"

Mater looked over at Lightning, feeling a bit better that his best friend was there to make him feel a bit more cheerful. "I sure am, Lightnin'. I always admire 'em, every year."

Lightning smiled. "Yeah. So, which one are you working on?," he asked. "I haven't seen yours."

Mater looked away and sighed again. "I don't have one."

Lightning's eyes widened. "You don't?"

"Nope. Every year I come here and look at 'em, thinkin' that maybe I'll get to help out wit' one of 'em. But, nobody ever asks me to help 'em out."

"Really?"

"Nope. Not even once... But, that don't bother me none. So long as everybody else has some fun, it's okay by me." He was about to drive away and join the crowd, but then he turned around and looked at Lightning. "Maybe someday I will get to work on one o' them floats, but 'til then, I guess I'll just be watchin' 'em." Then he drove away towards Main Street to see if he could find a good spot to watch the parade. Lightning watched him and looked down at the ground.

'Poor Mater,' he thought. 'If only there was some way I could cheer him up. But how?' Lightning was so busy thinking of a way to make Mater be a part of the parade that he didn't notice Sally come up next to him.

"Hey stickers. Is something bothering you?" she asked.

Hre voice made him stop thinking about it for a moment and he focused his attention on Sally. "Yeah, I'm okay. But it's not me I'm concerned about. I'm worried about Mater. He says he's never been part of the parade before and I was just thinking about a way I could fix that."

Sally looked at him with a bit of concern. Now that she thought about it, she gave everyone some sort of a job except Mater. Now she felt a bit guilty about how he was feeling. She thought about how she could fix this until it dawned on her. "I have an idea..."

* * *

A few minutes before the parade, Mater was parked at the very end of the road, waiting for the first float to head down the road. "Any minute now," he said softly to himself. "They'll be comin' any minute." Just then, Lightning rushed up next to him.

"Mater!," he shouted.

Mater turned around. "Lightnin'? You here to watch the parade too?"

"No! I need your help with something! Follow me!"

Mater followed Lightning all the way over to where the floats were being kept, wondering why Lightning wanted his help so badly. Once they stopped, he finally caught enough breath to ask him. "What in tarnation d'ya need m' help for?"

Just then, the sheriff pulled up next to him. "You see son, one of these here floats broke down at the last minute, and we need your help to tow it so that we can still have the parade."

Mater looked at him in shock. "What? You want _me_ to help?"

Lightning nodded. "So, can you do it?"

Mater looked at Lightning with a smile on his face. "Can I? Shoot! Who else can do it? You got yerself a tow truck!"

* * *

It was finally time for the parade, and everyone was looking their best. All of the other floats had passed by and the very last one, which was possibly the best one of all, was being towed by none other than Radiator Springs's very own Tow Mater. Everyone cheered and smiled as he towed the float down main street with a big smile on his face. As he did, the others, including Lightning and Sally, were watching Mater have the time of his life.

"So stickers? Should we tell him that the float wasn't broken after all?"

Lightning smiled. "Nah. We'll tell him later. Right now, let's just let him have his chance to shine."

**_The End_**


End file.
